Gutter access

[Visti]

I've looked at he H3 regs and can't find any requirements for access to clean the gutter.

 

An issue with our design means we'll only have 30mm openning from the top between the roof and the edge. That seems like an issue to me, but nothing is stated in the regs, and there are few alternatives.

 

Am I right to be worried?

 

 

[Jeremy Harris]

I think you're right, I can't find anything that relates to cleaning access, either.

 

Is this a valley between two roof sections?  If so, then it might be an idea to look at how the roof sections are sealed where they meet the gutter, to make it easier to clean them out with a hose or water jet.

 

It may be that 30mm is enough of a gap for cleaning with a hose.  I gave our old house a tidy up before we put it on the market, that included taking out the gutter hedgehogs and giving the gutters a good clean.  As I had the hose out, and as I'm basically lazy (and I don't like going up ladders much) I found that a spray head on the end of the hose did a pretty good job.  I could stick it in at one end and just push the hose along the whole length of a gutter, with the spray head set to a fairly fine cone.  Only thing I had to watch was not to turn the tap up to much, as there was a risk of forcing water up under the eaves.

 

 

[Temp]

4 hours ago, Visti said:

we'll only have 30mm openning from the top between the roof and the edge

 

Sounds like you need to move the gutters outboard a bit?  Sketch drawing might help.

[Visti]

The gutter has turned into a bit of a bodged design. Originally the eaves of the roof terminated at the box gutter height, but as we've had to push these up at the gable ends, we've had to increace the cladding height to match.

 

That means 

1. A structural brace behind the cladding above the box gutter is required to support the top of the cladding
2. There is no more opportunity for overflow over the out edge of the cladding as it'd take so much water before going over that the weight would become too risky
3. Access to the box gutter is now constricted from the top, making maintenance difficult.

I like your idea @JSHarris, so may use that as a tactic. 

 

Checked with my warranty provider and they don't really care about #3 after all! A bit of mesh above would do fine to prevent stuff from getting in. 

 

#2 is the big stopper, so we're going to have to put in some overflow outlets just above the down-pipes to accommodate H3 1.7... just another day, another change!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jeremy Harris]

One thing I've found is that water runs really quickly off our in-roof PV panels.  The combination of a 45° pitch and the slippery glass means that in heavy rain water overshoots our gutters.  It tends to just carry on flowing at the roof angle for some distance, so hits the outside edge of the gutter, or flow over it.  This only happens in torrential rain, but it has created patches of staining on our cladding.  I'm planning on fitting wider, deeper, gutters and moving them up a little bit, so that there's a better chance of them intercepting heavy rain.

[Visti]

I hadn't even considered the PV run off given my focus on the roof and gutter, but that is a very good point! Thanks @JSHarris

 

Thankfully we've brought the cladding up quite a way, but it still looks like it'd just shoot off over the edge.

 

I may ask the question, but hesitant to unpack a new box of problems just now, hehe. 

[Jeremy Harris]

Sorry to have raised another potential issue...

 

It looks like the pitch of your roof is shallower than the 45° of ours, and that may well reduce the problem.  I actually went up a ladder in torrential rain to try and see what was causing our gutters to overflow, and it was only when I did this that I could see that the gutters weren't overflowing because of the volume of water, it was just the way the water was shooting off the solar panels as a flat sheet of solid water, mostly missing the gutter altogether.  The giveaway initially was when I noticed that the gutters at the back of the house never overflowed, despite there only being one downpipe.  The front has two downpipes (because the gable sticks out in the middle) so the gutters should have been able to better handle heavy rain, but with so much of the front roof covered with solar panels it seems that the water just flows off a lot faster.

[Vijay]

Is there anyway of fitting a course mesh to the bottom of the PV to break up the sheet of water coming off it? (so it creates an upstand) Only shallow so leaves wouldn't get backed up

[Visti]

21 hours ago, Vijay said:

Is there anyway of fitting a course mesh to the bottom of the PV to break up the sheet of water coming off it? (so it creates an upstand) Only shallow so leaves wouldn't get backed up

 

That should be an easier install as well I should think! I'll look at how we can build that into the counter battening before the cladding goes on. Thanks for that idea @Vijay!

[Ferdinand]

23 hours ago, Vijay said:

Is there anyway of fitting a course mesh to the bottom of the PV to break up the sheet of water coming off it? (so it creates an upstand) Only shallow so leaves wouldn't get backed up

 

Does this work?

[Vijay]

32 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

 

Does this work?

Absolutely no idea, just popped into my head when I read the issue JSHarris had